Broker/dealers will find themselves challenged in the wake of the Department of Labor’s “conflict of interest” rule — although perhaps not so much for the reasons that have grabbed the headlines over the past 12 months.

Talk to your clients about Social Security claiming strategies, before it’s too late.

Analysts are in agreement that opponents are going to take the Department of Labor to court in a bid to stop its fiduciary rule from going into effect. Some feel the chances for success are good.

RIAs may be better positioned to handle the new fiduciary rule regulations, but still face a higher burden of care and difficult competitive forces, experts say.

The Department of Labor followed similar logic that the SEC did in 2008 when it tried to regulate index annuities as securities, says one Beltway insider.

Although regulatory reforms are expected to incentivize and expand social impact investing to include 401k plans eventually, a Department of Labor bulletin is hampering those efforts.

A number of financial services trade groups were quick to give their responses to the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule. Here is a sampling.

Fixed indexed annuities (FIAs), which had originally been left out of a draft proposal of the Department of Labor’s new fiduciary rule, were added to variable annuities as the two classes of annuity products requiring an exemption.

The department set a longer implementation timeline than originally proposed because of rule’s importance to consumer protection and the amount of time needed for plans and advisors to transition from a non-fiduciary status to a fiduciary one.

The final fiduciary rule includes significant changes – both substantive and administrative. Here are some comments from the financial industry.

The future of fixed indexed annuity sales is up in the air after the Department of Labor added an unexpected wrinkle to its fiduciary rule. And a Washington attorney said he believes the rule should be re-issued as a result.

What we can learn from the fiduciary rule and the MetLife “too big to fail” challenge.

While the final fiduciary rule contains plenty of concessions by the Department of Labor, one significant change is expected to hurt fixed indexed annuity sales.

By Jason Frain As Americans continue to live longer and financial markets remain unpredictable, many retirees and preretirees are deeply…

Advisors and consumers now may buy four classes of annuities directly from the Internet following the launch of the website Annuities.direct. This is a direct-to-consumer channel designed to lower the costs of annuity transactions.

Once the Department of Labor publishes the final regulation in the Federal Register, the rule-making process transitions to a phase of interpretation, guidance and compliance.

The DOL is expected to release the controversial fiduciary rule Wednesday at a Center for American Progress event in Washington, D.C.

A new floating rate annuity product credits an extra fraction of a percentage based on the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, on top of the guarantee period base rate.

Sen. Warren says DOL fiduciary rule opponents are contradicting themselves in comments to investors.